fitness frivolity and culinary wizardry peppered with life musings, fried in adventure.

So over it.

Ok, maybe not really, because these goat cheese, black pepper and honey popovers turned out WAY better than expected – and that’s mainly because I in no way trust my electric oven and for once it pleasantly surprised me.

If you are not a perfectionist, these are for you. Popovers are light, hollow rolls with a simple batter that helps create a blank canvas upon which you can produce a plethora of flavor combos. They “pop over” the top of the muffin tin (which I used, though there are dedicated popover pans out there) and hold all sorts of shapes. Forget being uniformly pretty.

I’ve recently discovered goat cheese, which is a miracle given my obsession with dairy. I used to it to make lemon honey goat cheese crusted chicken and found that the creamy texture was not only pleasant, but the tartness of it was unexpected, and in the best way possible.

(If the term “goat” freaks you out when it comes to food, you can be fancy and refer to this as chèvre, the French word for “goat.”)

They carry already honeyed goat cheese, but where’s the fun in that? Don’t be lazy, make it yourself.

GOAT CHEESE, BLACK PEPPER and HONEY POPOVERS

You will need:

3 large eggs, room temperature

1 1/2 cups 2% milk, room temperature

1 1/2 cups white whole wheat flour

1 1/4 tsp salt

1 1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper

4 oz goat cheese, room temperature

2 tbsp honey

muffin tin

whisk

large bowl

small bowl

measuring accouterments

High baking temperatures freak me right out, but go on ahead and crank the oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit. AND MAKE SURE YOUR MUFFIN TIN IS CLEAN. Otherwise, that puppy will start smoking when you put it in your pre-heating oven prior to baking.

Yes, you’re not only pre-heating the oven but the tin as well. I have never done this before, but upon doing some research I found it’s a good thing to do when you want a crispy exterior. Which we do. So have at it.

In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs and milk for a solid minute so the mixture becomes frothy (thank you Crossfit for giving me the strength).

Sprinkle the flour, salt, and black pepper over top, then whisk until well combined.

In a small bowl, mix together goat cheese and honey until well combined.

Remove the tin from the oven and spray it with cooking spray. Fill each cup about 3/4 full of batter, then drop a teaspoon of the goat cheese mixture into the middle of each.

Bake the popovers at 450 for 15 minutes, then lower the heat to 350 and continue to bake for another 15 to 20 minutes until they are puffed up and browned all over. I actually cut my baking time by five-ish minutes because I know my wonderful electric oven (I wish dripping sarcasm were apparent via internet) would burn the bastards if I followed the actual cooking time. Just keep an eye on them.

Though the original recipe says to turn these over onto a wire rack, don’t. When I did, the cheese fell out! No one wants that.

This was most unexpected to me, that the goat cheese didn’t melt into the doughy part. When I picture cheese being baked, I picture it melting and getting all ooey gooey into everything. Instead, the cheese/honey mixture pretty much held its shape, and could be found cradled in the hollow of the popover. Goat cheese will soften when heat is applied, but it doesn’t melt like many cow cheeses do, so instead of tipping, scoop ’em out and place them on a wire rack.

I initially thought I jacked these up, but that hollow makes me think I did something right, because everything I’ve read about popovers has pointed to a signature hollow center. Plus, the taste is pretty great.

The dough itself is wonderful, moist and not dense, but not exactly light like air. The taste of it also reminds me of the dough from the Easter pizza my family makes; the forefront flavor is a bite of pepper.

Overall, this went really well – considering the fact that, upon heating my muffin tin up in the oven during the pre-bake, I didn’t much follow the advice I just doled out to you and it started smoking a little bit and I thought I was going to have to quit right there.

Clean your bakeware, people.

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GOAT CHEESE, BLACK PEPPER and HONEY POPOVERS

Courtesy of: joanne-eatswellwithothers.com

Yields: 12 popovers

Baked along to: “Room for Squares,” John Mayer

Ingredients:

3 large eggs, room temperature

1 1/2 cups 2% milk, room temperature

1 1/2 cups white whole wheat flour

1 1/4 tsp salt

1 1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper

4 oz goat cheese, room temperature

2 tbsp honey

muffin tin

whisk

large bowl

small bowl

measuring accouterments

Directions:

Preheat oven to 450F, and place muffin tin in while you prepare the batter.

In a large bowl, whisk together eggs and milk for a minute until mixture becomes frothy.

Sprinkle flour, salt, and black pepper over the top and whisk until well combined.

In a small bowl, mix together goat cheese and honey.

Remove muffin tin from the oven and spray with cooking spray. Fill each cup about 3/4 full of batter, then drop about a teaspoon of goat cheese mix into the center of each cup.

Bake popovers for 15 minutes at 450F. Lower heat to 350F and bake for another 15-20 minutes more, until puffed up and browned all over. Scoop out onto wire rack when done and serve immediately.